A handwritten, four-page letter from William Alston Hayne to his uncle, Charles Alston, in which he requests Peruvian Guano or Rhodes Supplemental Phosphate of Lime to use as fertilizer. He also mentions the possibility of the Civil War dragging on for years and suggests that the Alston family build a cottage near his home in case of a sea invasion.
A handwritten, three-page letter from Charles Alston to his sister, Mary Pringle, in which he explains John Julius Alston's journey to Richmond to see Governor Pickens and the Secretary of War about starting a new Company of Artillery. He presents this story to disprove claims made by William Bull Pringle.
A handwritten, six-page letter from William Alston Pringle to his uncle, Charles Alston, in which he defends his brother, Charles Alston Pringle, and his father, William Bull Pringle, amid the family controversy about Charles Alston Pringle's exclusion from the new Company of Artillery.
A certificate appointing John Julius Alston to the post of Senior First Lieutenant in the Battalion of Artillery in the Regular Enlisted Force of South Carolina on August 13, 1861. This was signed by Francis Wilkinson Pickens, James A. Duffus, and William H. Peronneau.
A certificate naming John Julius Alston a solicitor in South Carolina on January 16, 1861, signed by John Belton O'Neall, Job Johnston, and Thomas J. Gantt. Chancellor Wardlaw was noted as absent. At the bottom, "United States of America" is crossed out and replaced by "Commonwealth of South Carolina."
William Finley Barnwell, recently stationed at Fort Johnson, SC, writes to mother, Catherine Osborn Barnwell, asking for clothing and other supplies. According to Barnwell, his pay as lieutenant is "over a thousand dollars including servant & food" though few supplies have been sent to the fort. January 28, 1861.
William Finley Barnwell writes to mother, Catherine Osborn Barnwell, from his station on Sullivan's Island. Barnwell writes about the need of supplies, cloth, needles, etc., his plans for using his pay and the daily anticipation of a fight with the federal troops. April 4, 1861.
